American Kleptocracy
How the U.S. Created the World's Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History
by Casey Michel
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Pub Date Nov 23 2021 | Archive Date Jan 14 2022
Description
A remarkable debut by one of America's premier young reporters on financial corruption, Casey Michel's American Kleptocracy offers an explosive investigation into how the United States of America built the largest illicit offshore finance system the world has ever known.
"An indefatigable young American journalist who has virtually cornered the international kleptocracy beat on the US end of the black aquifer."
—The Los Angeles Review of Books
For years, one country has acted as the greatest offshore haven in the world, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit finance tied directly to corrupt regimes, extremist networks, and the worst the world has to offer. But it hasn’t been the sand-splattered Caribbean islands, or even traditional financial secrecy havens like Switzerland or Panama, that have come to dominate the offshoring world. Instead, the country profiting the most also happens to be the one that still claims to be the moral leader of the free world, and the one that claims to be leading the fight against the crooked and the corrupt: the USA.
American Kleptocracy examines just how the United States’ implosion into a center of global offshoring took place: how states like Delaware and Nevada perfected the art of the anonymous shell company, and how post-9/11 reformers watched their success usher in a new flood of illicit finance directly into the U.S.; how African despots and post-Soviet oligarchs came to dominate American coastlines, American industries, and entire cities and small towns across the American Midwest; how Nazi-era lobbyists birthed an entire industry of spin-men whitewashing trans-national crooks and despots, and how dirty money has now begun infiltrating America's universities and think tanks and cultural centers; and how those on the front-line are trying to restore America's legacy of anti-corruption leadership—and finally end this reign of American kleptocracy.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781250274526 |
| PRICE | $29.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 368 |
Featured Reviews
Mike H, Reviewer
American Kleptocracy by Casey Michel is an interesting and timely book describing who and how money is moved about globally. What is frustrating and disturbing to learn is although most of the money is not stolen in the US, much of it is transferred into the US where it goes from dirty to clean money legally! Mr. Michel is an Adjunct Fellow for the Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative, and has contributed research pertaining to offshoring, illicit finance, and foreign interference to the German Marshall Fund, the Human Rights Foundation, as well as others.
The money flows into the US with the assistance of US lawyers and set up in shell companies mainly in Delaware, South Dakota and Nevada, three states that have made it possible to set up an Anonymous Shell Company in less than one hour. Some of the people described with vast sums of stolen money meaning over 1 billion dollars are from Equatorial Guinea and Ukraine. In the case of Teodore Obiang now VP of Equatorial Guinea who among ways to “wash” his money bought up all the Michael Jackson items including the famous glove. In this case the harm is mainly to the people of Equatorial Guinea who have lost much of the revenue that could be used to make the country more livable. In the case of Ukraine, the oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky not only ransacked the Ukraine economy he and his cohorts purchase steel mills and office buildings in middle America which they ran into the ground but as Michel explains the money is now free and beyond the grasp of Ukraine while at the same time causing massive financial pain to hard working middle class Americans. So the key point is it does impact the US and at this point we do not know how large this problem may be since all the money and who it belongs to is still hidden.
I believe this is an excellent book to begin to understand this issue and problem for America. It is well written without technical jargon and will make you a bit more informed about an important issue for America.
Patricia F, Reviewer
How the U.S. Created the WORLD’S GREATEST MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME in HISTORY
Casey Michel shows us the world of illicit offshore money schemes.
American Kleptocracy looks at how the United States morphed into the center of global money offshoring.
Our country has been at the center of this illicit game for far too long. While our leaders decry corrupt regimes around the world, we are happy to take their money.
If you want to start your own shell company go to Delaware. Or Nevada. Delaware will let literally anyone set up a virtual shop. Having managed property for a long time, most of my owner’s companies are LLCs in Delaware. A state they don’t live in. Soviet Oligarchs, African despots, the worst of the worst store their money here while their own people starve. And when Trump came along it was a marriage made in greed. Restrictions were released. Laws made it easier to launder and hide money.
Do we really know how much of our own country is owned by outsiders? Shocking.
This was an excellent book that taught me a few new things. The author has a way of breaking down a rather large topic and just saying, “Hey, this is what is going on!”. He also talks about how our new President could proceed.
Very well researched and written, this was a great read.
NetGalley/November 16th, 2021, St. Martin’s Press
Jill T, Reviewer
3 stars
Absolutely outrageous! You will learn everything you wanted to now about money, corruption and more in this book.
Abby S, Reviewer
An eye opening debut Casey Michel leaves no stone unturned in her investigation into corrupt off shore money schemes.There is so much going on things the average person would no nothing about without dogged investigators like this author.Highly recommend.#netgalley #st.Martins
Maxine M, Reviewer
When people think of off-shore money havens, they usually think of places like the Caymans. But, in fact, as author Casey Michel shows in his book, American Kleptocracy, the US has become one of the world’s biggest and most popular places for off-shore tax havens and money laundering.
In this well-wriitten, well-documented, and surprisingly readable book, he describes the history of the rise of US offshore havens from its start in states like New Jersey to its rapid spread to other states who saw all the money rolling in and wanted in on it. She also introduces us to some of the people offering this ‘service’ and those taking advantage of it’ from African despots to Russian oligarchs. A truly eye-opening book.
<i>Thanks to Netgallet and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>
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